General Imaging VP of sales and marketing America : General Imaging, the exclusive licensee for GE-branded digital cameras, announced the promotion of Rene Buhay to senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas. Buhay’s new position was effective Sept. 1. He had been serving as vice president of sales for North America. “Rene has done a wonderful job for us in our first year of existence, and it gives me great pleasure to reward his vast skills and accomplishments with this promotion,” said Hiroshi “Hugh” Komiya, chairman and CEO of General Imaging. “He has helped take this company from a total unknown to a major force in the marketplace in a very short time. He is the channel architect who made this all happen.”

Olympus Vice President of Marketing : Olympus, a precision technology leader creating innovative opto-digital solutions in healthcare, life science and consumer electronics products, has appointed Michael J. Hunter as Vice President of Marketing for Olympus Imaging America Inc., the company that manages Olympus’ award-winning Imaging products business for consumer and professional markets throughout North and South America. In this role, he will lead all marketing activity for the company’s consumer electronics product line, including digital cameras, professional digital SLR (single lens reflex) imaging systems as well as related underwater products and accessories, digital and microcassette recorders, digital media and binoculars.

DSLR sensor cleaning partnership : VisibleDust and Calumet Photographic have announced their partnership in DSLR sensor cleaning services with the introduction of their new cleaning facilities. Calumet will offer ‘Certified VisibleDust Cleaning Centers’ through six of their locations throughout the United States. Calumet locations in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco will offer one hour in-house services at these locations, with more to open in the near future. These centers will provide thorough camera cleaning including: exterior camera body, LCD, viewfinder, chamber area, focusing screen, mirror complex and most importantly the imaging sensor which is prone to dust attraction.

Advanced photo editing partnership : Corel Corporation announced a partnership with CVS/pharmacy. Corel has created CVS Photo Editor Plus, a branded software solution based on Corel Snapfire. The software is available as a feature on the new CVS Picture CD or as a free download to millions of CVS/pharmacy photo customers. Corel is providing CVS/pharmacy with the user interface for the new CVS Picture CD, now available at CVS Photo Centers across North America. “Corel is making it easy for CVS/pharmacy customers to make the most of their digital photos within the range of convenient services we already provide through our kiosks and the CVS Photo Center,” said Jonas Merrill, Senior Category Manager of Photo Processing at CVS.

Qwest names chairman and chief executive officer : Qwest, announced that Edward A. Mueller, a telecommunications veteran with high-level experience, has been named chairman and chief executive officer, succeeding Richard C. Notebaert, who announced in June that he would be retiring. Mueller, 60, has more than 34 years of telecommunications industry experience. He served as president and chief executive officer of Ameritech from 2000 to 2002; president of SBC International Operations from 1999 to 2000; and president and chief executive officer of Pacific Bell from 1997 to 1999. He joined SBC in 1968 and held other executive level positions in the company, including president and chief executive officer of Southwestern Bell Telephone.

HandHeld entertainment to Acquire eBaum's : HandHeld Entertainment, Inc., a global digital entertainment company, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire eBaum's World, Inc., one of the Internet's premier online entertainment sites, offering user-generated videos, games, jokes, photos and other content. Founded in 1998, eBaum's World is one of the oldest and most successful user-generated content (UGC) sites in the world, generating approximately $5.2 million in revenue and $1.6 million in net income before income taxes in 2006. During the last 12 months, eBaum's World served more than 2.5 billion unique page views and video streams, with an average time on site per user visit of more than 10 minutes.

Digital imaging technology partnership : FotoNation, announced a partnership with Future Image Inc., PMA and the Association of Imaging Executives (AIE) for the 2007 6Sight Future of Imaging Conference. The two-day executive event will focus on the explosive global spread of imaging technology and its potential for exciting new opportunities to improve people’s lives in the work, home and community spheres. Under the agreement, FotoNation is inaugurating its sponsorship of the “Leaders of Innovation - The Human Face” session highlighting some of the world’s foremost university researchers in facial identification and facial recognition and other face-based imaging technologies.

Nikonians partners with photography publisher Rocky Nook : In a joint statement, Nikonians and Rocky Nook photography publisher announced they have joined forces. The international community of Nikon enthusiasts partnered with the Santa Barbara-based photography publisher to launch a new program of books for photographers geared toward both professionals and advanced amateurs. The project, under the Nikonians Press banner, will mostly cover Nikon photography equipment and books in the series will go well beyond the scope of technical manuals. Written by experienced photographers, they will help photographers become better at producing high quality images more efficiently, and to achieve consistent results.